For IT leaders, communication is often the invisible bottleneck. They navigate complex technical work with precision, yet projects stall when messages fail to land with the people who need to act.
Nancy Lahaie, who teaches Communication for IT Leaders in the John Molson Executive Centre’s IT Leadership program, says communication often breaks down because leaders fail to account for the listener.
“Communication has nothing to do with you,” Lahaie says. “It has everything to do with the person in front of you.”
Lahaie began her career in microbiology but her affinity for the human side of science ignited a move into marketing and strategic planning with companies such as Roche Diagnostics and Pfizer Canada, where she positioned complex scientific products for both technical experts and decision-makers.
Now a consultant, Lahaie helps organizations align leadership teams around strategy and execution.
Across industries, she sees a consistent pattern: execution falters not from a lack of knowledge but from messages that fail to connect. For Lahaie, effective communication always begins with a clear purpose.
“What’s your objective, what’s your ‘why?’” she says. “What does the result look like? And how do you know you’ve achieved it?”
Every listener, Lahaie notes, filters information based on stress, priorities, and assumptions. Leaders may believe they have been clear, but people interpret messages differently depending on what matters most to them. Leaders who account for those filters increase the chances their message lands.
Lahaie employs a simple method to ensure alignment with her audience: she asks them to repeat three things they retained. The answers reveal where communication has landed and where it has failed. That moment of comparison between intention and reception allows leaders to clarify and assign next steps with confidence.
Leaders also risk losing their audience when they manage by task rather than by outcome. Teams guided by instruction alone tend to wait for approvals or stay within the narrow boundaries of each assignment.
“Being a leader doesn’t come from having a title,” Lahaie explains. “It comes from having a vision.”
Vision is what helps every conversation connect to a larger purpose.
Even the best communicators can lose perspective under stress.
Nancy Lahaie, leadership and communications consultant
“When you are under stress, you turn inward,” Lahaie says. “Your communication becomes about you.”
The solution is to design against that tendency. Reserving time for reflection prevents leaders from being consumed by daily demands. Listening deliberately to peers in finance, sales, or operations broadens the context in which IT decisions are made.
That perspective, Lahaie stresses, strengthens communication with teams because stakeholders can connect daily work to strategy and clarify tradeoffs.
Data is the default language for IT professionals, but facts alone rarely persuade.
“If [facts were enough] everyone would have the same car, the same house, the same clothes,” Lahaie says, pointing out that logical choices are often influenced by emotion. “For the most part, people decide emotionally and rationalize afterwards.”
That tendency matters in leadership communication. For example, an objection framed as data quality may conceal fear of failure or loss of control. Leaders who respond only with more facts miss the point. By acknowledging the emotion behind the numbers and breaking changes into small, manageable steps, leaders reduce perceived risk and give people the confidence to act.
Strong leaders do not leave understanding to chance.
A vague, unintentional, ‘Any questions?’ at the end of an exchange does little to ensure alignment. Closing the loop is about achieving a shared understanding on what was agreed, how success will be checked, and when the next discussion will happen. This habit turns talk into accountability and prevents teams from leaving the room with conflicting interpretations.
IT leaders who close communication gaps allow their teams to move forward while freeing themselves to focus on strategy, decision-making, and long-term impact.
“Everything in life is about communication,” Lahaie notes. “You can have the best idea but if you don’t communicate it well, then you’re not going to have people follow you. You’re not going to have people buy from you. You’re not going to have people grow.”
© Concordia University
